Johnny Speight

Johnny Speight (2 June 1920 — 5 July 1998), was a TV scriptwriter of many classic British sitcoms. His most famous creation was the controversial bigot Alf Garnett. His shows often explored the themes of racism and sexism through satire, and many are regarded as classics. John Speight was born in Canning Town, West Ham, Essex (now Greater London), and began contributing scripts to comedy shows in 1955, starting with Great Scott - It's Maynard!. H... more

Johnny Speight (2 June 1920 — 5 July 1998), was a TV scriptwriter of many classic British sitcoms. His most famous creation was the controversial bigot Alf Garnett. His shows often explored the themes of racism and sexism through satire, and many are regarded as classics. John Speight was born in Canning Town, West Ham, Essex (now Greater London), and began contributing scripts to comedy shows in 1955, starting with Great Scott - It's Maynard!. His first major series was Sykes And A... (1961), which starred Eric Sykes, Hattie Jacques and Richard Wattis (see Sykes). Speight was one of many great writing talents on that series which also included the star Sykes, John Antrobus and Spike Milligan. He created the iconic working class tramp figure played by Arthur Haynes in the latter's long-running and top-rating ATV comedy series. Haynes died in 1966. In 1965, Speight wrote a BBC TV pilot which became the 1966 series Till Death Us Do Part featuring Warren Mitchell as Alf Garnett, a... less